Horse Slaughter Might Become Legal Again in US

The House Appropriations Committee voted to overturn a decade-long ban on the slaughter of horses on American soil.

Last week, the House Appropriations Committee of the US House of Representatives voted on an amendment to overturn the standing ban on horse slaughter in the United States. Congress voted 27 to 25 against the renewal of the horse slaughter ban—legislation that has been in effect for more than a decade—during voting on the Department of Agriculture funding bill. In September, The Bureau of Land Management recommended sending 45,000 wild horses and donkeys to foreign slaughterhouses in Canada and Mexico (where horse slaughter is legal) to clear land for cattle farmers and alleviate the financial burden of caring for the animals in government-run facilities. “We don’t do this to dogs or cats when we don’t have homes for them, and it should be unthinkable to do this to the domesticated animal that helped settle the nation,” Wayne Pacelle, CEO of The Humane Society of the United States, said. “I pity the people who don’t see the majesty of these American icons and who are numb to their suffering.” This new legislation is not final as Senate members have yet to vote on the matter.